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(No Model.)

P. P. PERKINS EXEROISING DEVICE.

Patented Aug. 17,1897.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK P. PERKINS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM LARDER, OF SAME PLACE.v

' EXERCISING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 588,350, dated August 17, 1897.

Application filed. December 4, 1896. Serial No. 614,416. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK P. PERKINS, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Exercising Ap-- paratus, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple and portable apparatus for exercising the arms and through them the muscles of the chest, back, and limbs.

I will proceed to describe my invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and afterward point out its novelty in the claim.

Figure 1 is a plan View of the apparatus. Fig. 2 represents a section at right angles to Fig. 1 in the line 2 2 thereof. Fig. 3 represents the upper portion of the body of a man, illustrating the use of the apparatus. Fig. 4. represents the apparatus held by two hands, illustrating another modification.

Similar letters of referencedesignate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A is a bar, of wood or other material, of a length sufficient to be held nearits ends by the hands with the arms outstretched and slightly spread. It is represented with a handle at each end. B is a rod attached to said bar at about the middle of the length thereof and projecting laterally therefrom at about a right angle thereto. This rod may be of metal or other material, but preferably consists of a piece of metal tubing. is aweight adjustable upon the said rod B at difierent distances from the hand-bar A. This weight is represented in the form of a ball bored to fit the rod and counterbored and screw-tapped at one end to receive a slightly-tapered external screw-threaded clamping-nut D,which is fitted to slide upon the rod. This nut is split from its inner end some distance backward, as indicated at o. in Figs. 1 and 2. By screwing the said nut into the weight its split portion is contracted upon the rod and made to clamp the ball firmly thereto. On the end of the rod 13 there'is screwed a stop E to pre-' vent the accidental slipping off of the weight if left loose upon the rod.

The rod is represented as attached to the hand-bar by screwing it into a flanged metal socket b, which is let into and secured to the barby screws 0.

This exercising apparatus may be used in a variety of waysas, for example, that illustrated in Fig. 1, in whichthe person usingit grasps it firmly with his hands near the ends of the bar and first brings it to a position at arms length, as shown in Fig. 1, with the bar A and rod B both in ahorizontal position and about on a level with his throat. He then alternately draws it toward and projects it from him This brings into operation the muscles of the fingers and hands by the effort necessarily made to prevent the bar from turning and by the weight of the rod and the ball. The action thus produced on the muscles of the fingers and hands is transmitted to the muscles of the arms, shoulders, chest, and back, down to the heels, and the muscles of the chest, back, and shoulders are further exercised by the alternate straightening and flexing of the arms.

Instead of using the apparatus as described it may be held by the two hands, as indicated in Fig. 4, with the bar A in a vertical position and the rod B horizontal and by bringing the two hands alternately above and be- 1 low each other, or it may be operated by one hand only.

In all operations the weight 0 may be adjusted to any point in the length of the rod according to the strength of the person who is to use it. In Figs. 1 and 2 I have represented the rod as graduated for the adj ustment of the weight.

The apparatus is portable and may be FRANK P. PERKINS.

Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, L. M. EGBERT. 

